Supporting Force Control of Walking Training Robots

Abstract

This paper presents two methods of body weight support of walking training robots. Recently a variety of walking rehabilitation technologies have been proposed in an attempt to develop effective and safe walking training methods. The proposed walking training robots are designed to unload body weight during standing or walking. The walking training robots consist of an unloading manipulator and a mobile platform. The manipulator is mounted on top of the mobile platform. Two types of manipulators are developed. One has an electro-mechanical linear mechanism which has good dynamic performance. The other has two pneumatic actuators which is safer than the first system. The mobile platform is a wheel type to follow and lead patients, which provide an unconstrained walking condition. A sliding mode controller for the electro-mechanical manipulator and a fuzzy controller for the pneumatic one are designed to unload a patients body weight. Supporting control performances are demonstrated by experiments.